Kamala Harris is the first Black and Asian-American Vice President, with parents who are of Indian and Jamaican descent.
Despite this historic achievement, there is ongoing debate about whether she should be classified as Caucasian or if all individuals of Indian descent are considered Caucasian.
Kamala Devi Harris has been the Vice President of the United States since 2021 under President Joe Biden.
Highlights
- The birth certificate of Kamala Harris has listed out her mother ethnic background as Caucasian.
- It’s been raising eyebrows among folks if Indians can be called out as Caucasians as Shyamala Gopalan is from Tamil Nadu.
- her father is from Jamaica and holds its ethnic background.
She is the first woman, African American, and Asian American to hold this position.
With Joe Biden stepping out of the presidential race, she is expected to be the Democratic candidate for the 2024 election.
Similarly, Maya Harris, Kamala Harris’s sister, has made notable appearances on several television platforms as a legal analyst and commentator.
Kamala Harris’s Birth Certificate Tags Her Mother’s Ethnic Background As Caucasian
Kamala Harris’s birth certificate has been released, showing that her mother’s race is listed as Caucasian.
Social media is flooded with the birth record from Alameda County, where she was born in Oakland, California.
Caucasian. So sayeth her California birth certificate.
— NorTex Freddie K (@FreddieK1776) August 1, 2024
Top THAT. pic.twitter.com/fwPuvVuoFV
On the other hand, it inscribes her father as of Jamaican race.
So, it questions whether part of her Indian ancestry could be classified as white.
The term “Caucasian” traditionally referred to people from Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
People from India are generally identified as South Asians, not Caucasians.
So, although the term might appear in some documents, it doesn’t match current ideas about race and ethnicity.
Kamala Harris Embraces Diverse Ethnicity As Indian-Jamaican Political Figure
Kamala Harris was the first African American and Indian American to be chosen as a vice-presidential nominee for a major party ticket.
She often highlights her parents’ diverse backgrounds to connect with people.
Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was of Indian descent and a breast cancer researcher.
Shyamala Gopalan was the daughter of an Indian diplomat and a women’s rights activist from Tamil Nadu, India.
According to her own words, she’s Indian. pic.twitter.com/O6bZZCN2tR
— Mama45🇺🇸 (@kdlmama) July 31, 2024
She introduced Kamala Harris and her sister to Hinduism and would take them to a nearby Hindu temple, where she occasionally sang.
As kids, they visited their mother’s family in Chennai (formerly Madras) and stayed connected with her Indian relatives.
Similarly, her father, Donald Harris, is an economics professor from Jamaica.
During the summers, the sisters spent time with their father in Palo Alto and sometimes traveled to Jamaica with him.
Additional Information
- In the 1990s, Kamala Harris dated Willie Brown, who was then the Speaker of the California Assembly.
- In 2001, she also had a short-term relationship with talk show host Montel Williams.
- Harris met her future husband, attorney Doug Emhoff, in 2013 through a mutual friend who arranged a blind date for them.
